


The Man with the Plan

by MrProphet



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), King Kong (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 16:53:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10701138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	The Man with the Plan

_Skull Island, 1947_

Carl Denham stumped through the thick undergrowth, slashing with his machete at anything that got too close. He hefted the heavy blade as a piebald form darted from the undergrowth and barely stopped short of decapitating the expedition’s dog.

“Dumb animal!” he spat. “Why’d we bring this thing anyway? It’s no good using it as a decoy for the monsters; it’s faster than us. Get off me, ya damned mutt!” he snapped as the dog, oblivious to his hostility, leaped against his leg, panting happily. Denham lifted his machete again.

“Hey!” Jock, the expedition’s youngest member, ran forward and snatched up the dog. “Leave Charlie alone!”

“Just… keep it away from me,” Denham growled. “I don’t like animals on me; not since I first came here.”

“Then why come back?” Jock wondered.

Denham glowered at the young Scot. “You ask a lot of questions for someone who’s here on sufferance,” he noted. “Only three types of people get to come on these shore expeditions, Jock; scientists, hunters” – he indicated the scouts who surrounded the study team, watching warily with shotguns, Thompsons and elephant rifles – “and artists. Which are you?”

“I’m here to be a decoy for the monsters,” Jock replied. “No, seriously; I’m a bit of everything. I’ve hunted in Africa, studied biology and animal behaviour, and I’m a showman.”

Denham sniffed dismissively. “You’re a dilettante,” he said. “How did you even get aboard the  _Legacy_?”

Jock laughed. “You were five thousand dollars short on this expedition; I put up the difference.”

“ _You_  put up five grand?”

“I’m a  _good_  showman,” Jock asserted.

“You’re what? Twenty-seven?”

“Twenty-six.”

“And what do you show?” Denham asked.

“Animals,” Jock explained. “That’s why I hunt; not to kill, but to bring back. You taught me that.”

“What?”

“Kong. That was my inspiration. To bring something… unique and show it to the people of the world.”

Denham shook his head bitterly. “Kong was a mistake,” he said. “He was too big,  _too_  unique; too incredible to be put on show like that. I didn’t think it was possible, but he was too big for New York.”

Jock nodded. “I understand,” he assured Denham. “We’ve got to show these creatures in their own environment, or something like it,” he added. “I can’t see Skull Island Vacations taking off.”

With a savage bellow, a great, striped form lunged from the undergrowth. One of the hunters screamed briefly as gin-trap jaws scissored his body in two. Rifles boomed and the young  _V. rex_  thrashed ungraciously in its death throes.

“You think they’ll pay to see that?” Denham laughed. “And they used to say I was crazy. Trust me, Jock; no-one will ever pay to see dinosaurs.”

“That’s what they used to say about your films, isn’t it?” Jock challenged.

“Touché,” Denham chuckled. “Well, you got vision, Jock; I’ll give you that. Tell you what; you put dinosaurs on display and I’ll do you a promotional film that’ll draw the people in from far and wide.”

“Thanks, Mr Denham,” Jock said.

“You still gotta make it happen,” Denham reminded him. “So; what are you gonna call this wonderland?”

“I was thinking ‘John Hammond’s Incredible Dinosaur Adventure Land’!” Jock announced.

Denham winced. “That’s a terrible name,” he said. “Think of something punchier.”

And the expedition moved on into the jungle.


End file.
